The Most Stylish Films of 2012

Best Outerwear: The Dark Knight Rises

The conclusions to Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy had its flaws, but no amount of plot holes could mask (get it?) the sheer screen presence and sartorial menace that Tom Hardy's Bane brought to the screen. Between his epically badass shearing coat—inspired, believe it or not, by the Swedish army—to his custom Belstaff jacket, Bane brought the rough-and-tumble style of real-life mercenaries to supervillain levels. And as to whether you can match the hulking man-crusher swagger, well, you have our permission to try.

Best Bond: Skyfall

Sort of a lock to win this category, but still, it's hard for a new 007 film to not crack the most stylish films of any given year. Daniel Craig's iteration of Bond, in particular, has always showed off his sartorial chops by way of contrast: wearing the sleekest, most wallet-emptying lux suits imaginable, while destroying them through knife fights and parkour-laden brawls. Paired with costume designer Jany Temime's smart details, like a more athletic fit and an under-collar button tab, fighting atop a train wearing a month's salary suddenly looks downright sensible.

Best Aesthetic: Moonrise Kingdom

Or most stylish film, if you prefer. Wes Anderson's latest, a picaresque tale of young lovers set on a small New England island, doesn't exactly burst with dapper suits like some of his previous efforts. But, as always with the consummate twee auteur, the film's scenery, color palette, and costuming still show off Anderson's trademark sense of cute-cool style, from retro "Khaki Scout" unis to Bruce Willis's skinny-tied police captain digs. It's not so much a fashion plate as a mood board, a film that makes you take an art director's eye to your wardrobe. You might not wear anything from it, but you won't be able to help wanting to dress like it.

Best Proto-Hipster Style: Lawless

It makes sense, that Tom Hardy and Co.'s gang of Prohibition-era moonshiners would dress like the staff at every retro Brooklyn speakeasy—or vice versa, we guess. Lawless, however, manages to nail that period-specific style, with all the chunky cardigans, dusty chinos, and broken-in boots that modern-day clotheshorses spend thousands trying to replicate: easier, we suppose, than running afoot of the Feds in '30s Virginia.

This also makes Hardy a double winner at this year's awards. It's okay to thank your mother twice, Tom. It couldn't have happened without her.

Best Hair: Prometheus

In Ridley Scott's Alien prequel, a brilliant bit of character development centers around the android David (Michael Fassbender) becoming infatuated with Peter O'Toole's enigmatic, charismatic performance in Lawrence of Arabia and copying everything about O'Toole's T.E. Lawrence, right down to the speech patterns and haircut. Does the imitation of such a peculiar psyche contribute to David's subsequent subterfuge, human guinea-pigging, and recurring thoughts of patricide? Not sure, but he looks damn good doing it.

Best Fantasy Wardrobe: Django Unchained

We're reasonably sure that nobody dressed like this in the 1850s (feel free to fact-check us, Internet), but Tarantino's spaghetti western tribute looks all the more terrific for it. From Django (Jamie Foxx) himself celebrating his new-found freedom through some truly liberated duds, to bloodthirsty slave owner Calvin Candie's (Leonardo DiCaprio) antebellum smoking jacket, the whole ensemble is like an idealized Levi's catalog, the American frontier rendered into Technicolor and hyperbole. You'll wish your duds looked as sharp as all that stylized violence.

The conclusions to Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy had its flaws, but no amount of plot holes could mask (get it?) the sheer screen presence and sartorial menace that Tom Hardy's Bane brought to the screen. Between his epically badass shearing coat—inspired, believe it or not, by the Swedish army—to his custom Belstaff jacket, Bane brought the rough-and-tumble style of real-life mercenaries to supervillain levels. And as to whether you can match the hulking man-crusher swagger, well, you have our permission to try.